Leveraging the Development of English TPCK within the Deictic Nature of Literacy

I thought that it was interesting that this chapter began with the statement that TPCK is a temporary concept that will, in time, be incorporated as an aspect of CK, PK, and PCK as technology integration becomes more centralized in schools and as teacher preparation and professional development catches up with the technology explosion. I’m not sure that I wholly agree. I understand what the authors are proposing but feel that the rate and type of technological changes occurring make the explicitness of the TPCK concept one that will constantly have to be revisited.
As the chapter unfolded I was interested to read about the author’s recommendation that professional developers need to design content-rich learning opportunities that would strengthen content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge and TPCK. This was of interest because of the many meetings I attended as a district Technology Integrator. During these meetings we were often told that the teachers were the curriculum experts. They were in charge of relating technology tools to their practice. This was not our job. We often argued that separating content and technology was not an affective form of professional development. Now the district is following a course that reminds me of the vignette bout Laura. We are providing our teachers with the latest in equipment; that is readily available. Minimal professional development is offered and little or none is content-focused. An individual teacher can request one-on-one support if they know what they want and have an idea of the software/hardware that they want support with.
The chapter concludes with the recommendation that practicing teachers focus on new content knowledge (such as new literacies) in order to create cognitive conflict and growth. While I see this occurring in our grad. school class I don’t see this as a solution that will be happening in our district professional development; especially with the budget cuts that are happening.
While this was a chapter designated for English education I felt that it was really applicable to all content areas. No matter the content area, content specific technology integration taught in conjunction with content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge is a richer and more successful strategy. This seems to be what Dr. Grace is referring to as she describes her preservice work with Dr. Theresa. I am sure that we will hear more about their project/program.